Joshua will be but one of three FoersIf you’re a fan of a writer named Foer, you’re in for a triple-treat on November 19: critically acclaimed authors and ridiculously gifted siblings Franklin, Jonathan and Joshua Foer will be delivering their first joint lecture on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington Hebrew Congregation.
The brothers are D.C. natives and graduates of Georgetown Day School, which is hosting the event for their 15th annual Benjamin Cooper Memorial Lecture, honoring one of Joshua Foer’s former classmates. Award-winning journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and the New Yorker will be moderating.
The Foers be discussing their work in their shared medium of choice. Eldest brother Franklin, age 38, is the editor of The New Republic, and authored How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. The book makes the clear analogy between the global economy and soccer culture — sectarian rivalries as trash talking, oligarchs like soccer club presidents, and nationalism as healthy team spirit. Sports Illustrated named it one of the top five influential books of the decade.
Jonathan, 35, perhaps exceeded all middle-child expectations with his slew of literary successes. He is the talent behind novels-turned-movies and bestsellers like Everything is Illuminated, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Eating Animals, and Tree of Codes. His next book, Escape from Children’s Hospital, will be published in 2014 and, like several of his others, has some basis in his personal experience. The way he draws his stories from meaningful parts of his life adds another dimension to what would otherwise be only fiction.
Joshua, 30, now works as a freelance journalist after publishing his first book last year, Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. After undergoing “memory training” and competing in the U.S. Memory Championship (where they do things like memorize decks of cards in under 30 seconds), Joshua writes that “our memories are indeed improvable” and shares tricks for how to do it yourself.
He also speaks warmly of his connection to Georgetown Day School as “the school that made me who I am,” and the cause the brothers are returning for. Benjamin Cooper, who passed away in 1997, was Joshua’s editor on the school newspaper and It’s Academic team member, and as Joshua described, “an all-around mensch.”
The lecture is free and open to the public, but reservations are strongly recommended as seating is limited. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
